


I’ll see you later?

by Whystickaround



Category: Grace and Frankie (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-05-25 17:10:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14981738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whystickaround/pseuds/Whystickaround
Summary: When Mrs Hanson comes to teach at Frankie’s highschool she is drawn from her to the start, but what she doesn’t know is that this woman might just turn her world upside down.





	1. Familiar Faces

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY LESBIANS so here’s the thing, here’s the warning, the plea for forgiveness. This is 100% without a shadow of a doubt a vanity project. It is based on a true story but reworked so it’s Grace and Frankie. *Would* it work better as a Carol fanfic? Yes. But I didn’t want to do that, it was too similar to a million other Carol fanfics. So it’s an age gap G&F au. There will be smut, there will be angst. There might be a happy ending. AGAIN there is a sliiightly underage undertone near the start so if that’s triggering please don’t read it! 
> 
> I don’t know, I hope it goes well. We’ll see.

Frankie hums to herself as she walks down the aisles of her small hometown drug store. She hasn’t lived here in over three years and the fear of running into anyone she knows acts as a constant reminder why not. This town has so many ghosts that even Frankie hasn’t been able to look them in the eye and paint them. Frankie paints everything she is afraid of, every moment in her life that nearly broke her, every person she loved and lost, all except for- Frankie rounds the corner heading to the till when she sees her- _Grace_. Standing there in that goddamn white collared button up and her jeans tightly belted. Sunday casual.

Frankie feels the sight pierce through her heart like an arrow. Her hand instinctively flies to her sternum and she presses hard before taking an awkward back step in an attempt to avoid the other woman. She bumps her large orange shoulder bag against the shelf and knocks down several bottles of vitamins.

“Oh jimminy!” She bends down to pick them up.

“Frankie?”

Frankie freezes, she’s scared to look up and be confronted by those same ice blue eyes she’s tried so hard to forget. Her legs work against her and next thing she knows she’s eye level with the woman she hasn’t seen in years.

“Grace.” Is all she can get out, she hates how defeated it sounds, how hollow, how... childish.

“Frankie.” Grace gasps again, “I’ve missed you so much.” And next thing she knows she’s being pulled into a hug. She can’t tell which one of them is shaking more, but she feels Grace take a deep whiff of her hair and her heart melts before she can stop it. When they pull away she hates herself for noticing almost immediately the bare strip of skin on her left ring finger. She sucks in a breath, feels herself being thrown back into that old bar they used to go to. To a life that doesn’t even feel like her own anymore.

 

* * *

 

_“What do you expect me to do? Leave him?” Grace asks one night, several months into this, sitting in their corner booth at the bar, just the two of them._

_“Why not?” Frankie answers defeatedly, knowing full well why not._

_“Why not? Why not she says! I don’t know Frankie maybe because it’s been 25 years and two kids and four houses and three different states. A whole life Frankie! Why not? Why not...” Grace trails off, shaking her head, she’s not looking at Frankie anymore. She places her hand back on Frankie’s thigh, from where she had removed it moments earlier, reassuring her Frankie thinks. Reassuring her that this isn’t how she wanted her life to turn out. That she never would have expected to find herself siting in a small dark bar talking about leaving her husband with this young girl she knows is in love with her, and that sometimes she fears she might love back._

 

* * *

 

Frankie was nearly eighteen when Mrs. Hanson came to her small town high school and she was immediately intrigued. She remembers the first time she ever met her, the woman endearing herself to her immediately when their eyes met across the hallway and Frankie recognized the lost look on her face. Frankie confidently weaved through the other students and walked right up to her.

“Lost?”

“Very.” She huffed and seemed extremely irritated with herself for not being able to figure out the school floor plan in her hands.

“Well whatcha looking for?” Frankie eyed her up and down, she wasn’t dressed like most of the teachers around here. She was wearing dress pants and a white and blue striped shirt under a beige cardigan. Her collar popped nearly to her ears, which held delicate silver hoop earrings. Everything about her from her hairsprayed hair to her nude heels had been meticulously picked out, presumably the night before. Frankie guessed she had to be in her early forties, although she hardly looked it.

“204? I believe. Ninth grade science?”

“Ah up the blue stairs over there and then to the right. It’s a lab, you can’t miss it.”

“Thank you, I’m sorry, I’m usually much more put together.”

“I don’t doubt it- I’m Frankie by the way.”

“Mrs. Hanson.”

“Too formal, got a first name?” Frankie asks cheekily.

“Ha! Nice try. Mrs Hanson will do,” she said with a smirk. “But thank you again. Frankie.” She said, as if trying the name out for the first time. Frankie felt a nervous flutter at the sound.

Frankie watched her walk away, never before had she seen such a beautiful person carry herself so delicately, almost as though were she to make one misstep her entire world would collapse. Right before Mrs Hanson turned the corner she turned around and found Frankie’s eyes again and winked so quickly Frankie thought she might’ve imagined it. She couldn’t shake the image from her head for the rest of the day. She knew she had to come up with more ways to talk to her.


	2. Stirrings

It didn’t take long for Frankie to figure out Mrs. Hanson’s schedule and she quickly worked out a routine so that she could wait outside her door and walk with her to her next class.

“Why, Frankie! Fancy running into you here.” Mrs Hanson teased, fully aware of what Frankie was doing.

“Oh yeah just in the neighbourhood when I said to myself, wow! Is that my good friend Grace Hanson?” Frankie grinned. Grace whipped to look at her.

“How did you-?”

“School website.”

“You’ve been doing your homework I see.” Mrs Hanson winked at her and bumped her with her hip playfully.

“So can I call you Grace now?”

Grace looked at her amusedly. “Hmm I suppose I can’t stop you, but not in front of the other students. We wouldn’t want them thinking anything off about the two of us now would we?” She looked at Frankie innocently but Frankie’s stomach somersaulted. When they separated ways Frankie walked shakily right to the bathroom. What did that mean? Was there something off about them? Frankie was openly gay in her high school, had been for years and unless she was being modest she could admit she was fairly well liked around the school. The way she flew in late every day, a wild tangle of long curly hair and loud bangles and bright flowy tunics. The way she knew everyone’s name and said hello to everyone in the hall. Frankie had always been completely and totally unapologetically herself, which was why she couldn’t hide her growing interest in Mrs Hanson.

 

* * *

 

 

Soon the brief conversations between class turned into visits to Grace’s office, turned into inside jokes and secrets shared and what felt like a truly authentic connection. Frankie couldn’t explain what she was doing, why she was so drawn to this woman. She just liked being around her, talking to her. Her office became a safe haven for them both before they had to separate ways.

“Got any big plans for the rest of the day?” She asks one day sitting in a chair across from Grace in her office after school, nonchalantly playing with the bulky rings on her left hand.

“Yes actually. It’s Tuesday so I’ll be at the curling rink for most of the night.”

“Oh? I can’t believe you have been an 80 year old man this whole time and I didn’t even know it!”

“Hey! Curling is a young persons sport too you know, not that I’m a young person, not by any stretch.” Her voice familiarly sad. Frankie’s heart breaks.

“Hey now- don’t say that.” Grace rolls her eyes. “Don’t! Grace, you’re beautiful and young and you have so many years of happiness ahead of you okay?”

Grace stops looking at Frankie and Frankie knows it immediately- she overstepped and these meetings, these conversations were going to end because she couldn’t keep her fucking mouth shut.

“I, uh, I curl here in town from 7-10, if you...happen to be around. It’s open to the public, but no one is ever there.” She stares at her computer as she speaks. The words hang heavy in the air. An invitation that felt like much more than either of them were willing to admit.

“Alright. Well, that’s that. Have a good night.” Frankie spoke slowly before standing up and making her way out of Grace’s office.

 

* * *

 

When Frankie walked into the curling club for the first time she could have powered a whole house with the amount of anxiety she felt in her stomach. She walked in slowly, giving herself the chance to bolt if necessary. Grace had been correct about one thing, there certainly wasn’t an audience for Tuesday night ladies curling. Frankie quickly spotted Grace out of the groups of women and her heart leapt at the sight of her down on the ice, blonde hair perfectly coiffed, scarf loose around her neck and the same tan cardigan she had worn on her first day of school pulled tight around her small frame.

It took ten minutes before Frankie found the nerve to step away from the door and to sit down in front of the glass. Right as she did Grace looked up at her and her eyes widened. Frankie froze as she waited to see Grace’s reaction to her being there, but almost as quickly as it fell her face lit up into the most beautiful smile Frankie had ever seen and she watched her quickly try to stifle it. She didn’t wave, and Frankie was grateful not to pull attention from the other curlers, but Grace’s smile stayed grounded in her mind throughout the rest of the games.

When the time finally ended Frankie waited anxiously in the same spot on the observation deck. The games had been over for quite a while and Frankie could hear that most of the women had cleared out already. She wasn’t sure if Grace would just pack up her things and leave without saying goodbye. She began to fiddle nervously with her topaz necklace when a warm hand landed on her shoulder. She whipped around to see Grace leaning into her, arms empty.

“Come with me.” she whispered and then let out a low laugh before power walking off towards the back of the curling rink. Frankie grinned as she led them through a door and then another until they entered through the back door of a small local pub. Frankie didn’t recognize anyone in there but it was ten pm on a Tuesday so the place certainly wasn’t swinging. Grace whisked them into a small corner booth at the back and Frankie sat down beside her, not too close.

“So? What did you think? A terribly exciting sport isn’t it?” She asked teasingly.

“Actually? I really enjoyed it. But maybe I just enjoyed watching you. Who’s to say.” Frankie shrugs and sits back against the booth.

“I’ve never been in here.” She offers when Grace doesn’t respond.

“I found it a few weeks ago, it’s nearly almost dead during the week. Robert thinks curling goes until eleven so I always duck in here for an hour of peace by myself.” Grace says and her eyes darken.

Frankie sets her hand out on the table, centimetres away from the other woman’s. Grace looks at it and the looks back at Frankie before pulling her arm away and whispering that she’d be right back.

When Grace returned she carried two small glasses of red wine. She winked at Frankie as she set it down across from her.

“I won’t tell if you won’t.”

Frankie had never in her life felt such a flutter of anxiety matched with pure unfiltered excitement. Here she was, sitting in a secret bar with this woman twice her age. It was unimaginable.

“So, tell me about you? Have you always lived around here? What do you like to do?”

The questions came out bulky, as if Grace had millions of things she wanted to know about Frankie but didn’t know which order to ask them in.

“Ha! Yes ma’am, born and raised.” She answered sporting her best country accent. “Other than that I don’t know what you don’t already know? My name is Frankie, I’m gay, I’m an expert palm reader, I paint sometimes, I’m suddenly very into curling.” She says raising her eyebrow at the last part.

Grace lightly snorted, but she kept staring at Frankie as if willing her to continue.

“Anything else you want to know you might have to ask.”

“You’re gay?” Grace says and it catches Frankie off guard.

“Uh yes but I assumed you already knew that? Everyone knows that. I basically wear it on my name tag.”

“What has that been like? Such a small town. What do your parents think?”

Fortunately Frankie was used to this kind of questioning, but it usually didn’t make her this nervous. She tucked her unruly mane behind her ear.

“Um it’s been okay actually, for the most part people are really progressive. My parents aren’t around much, but I don’t really think I’d care what they’d think even if they didn’t like it. I’m not very... close with them.” Frankie suddenly felt stupid sitting here, talking about any of this as if it mattered. As if she wasn’t just a seventeen year old kid. Her hair popped out from behind her ear and Grace leaned over the table to tuck her hair back behind her ear.

“You’re so beautiful you know that? I’m so sorry. I was never close with my parents either, and it’s not easy growing up alone.” The kindness in Grace’s eyes tore through Frankie’s heart and for a second she nearly felt like crying.

“So. Tell me about your husband?” Frankie said, as if reminding both of them. Grace snapped back in her seat.

“Robert? Oh he’s... home, sometimes. Mostly not. He’s a lawyer and his work keeps him busy most of the time, which I don’t... mind. We married young, before either of us really knew what we wanted.”

Frankie watched her face darken as she talked about him. She was too afraid to think about what that last sentence meant.

“And your kids?”

Grace’s face lit up again, if only slightly.

“Brianna and Mallory! They’re wonderful! We aren’t as close... as I’d like, but you know, they’re busy. Both moved out of the house already, living their own lives...”

“And, you? Are you seeing anyone?” Grace asked finishing her wine.

“No. Not right now. I just uh, just went through a break up actually. Sal was her name. Turns out she was cheating on me for most of our relationship.” Her eyes widened, “God! I’m sorry I didn’t mean to just blurt out all my secrets with you right here.”

“No no! Please. Honestly, I find you deeply fascinating. I feel like there are a lot of things we can teach one another.” Grace said with a smirk, searching her eyes for something Frankie couldn’t quite identify and then, like most things Grace did, she abruptly stood up and said, “Well shall we call it a night?” And started walking towards the back door. Frankie followed suit.

When the women made it outside Frankie was surprised to find the parking lot empty, save for her car and what she now assumed was Grace’s, a silver Hyundai Santa Fe that seemed to suit her aesthetic perfectly.

“Well, this is me.” Frankie mumbled awkwardly as Grace eyed the bumper stickers covering the back of her old green subaru.

Grace stayed a safe distance away but the energy between the two of them was palpable.

“I’m glad you came.”

“Me too.”

“I’ll see you here again? Next week?” Her voice was hopeful, which made Frankie’s hands shake slightly.

“It’ll depend how aligned my chakras are that day, but I’m willing to say chances are pretty good.”

Grace stared at her again, as if wanting to say something but not knowing what.

“Okay well, have a good night.” Is all she came up with.

Frankie got into her car and looked at herself in the mirror. As she drove home in the dark she couldn’t help but wonder what Grace was doing. She couldn’t help but wonder what she herself was doing.


	3. Where?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frankie struggles with her feelings and Grace isn’t helping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I refuse to write on anything but my phone so unfortunately I have to work without italics so sorry about that. Let me know what you think! I also never proofread anything ever.

The first time she admits to it she’s sitting in the small turquoise room she’s become so accustomed to over the past few years. Her therapist, Jen, sits across from her patiently waiting.

“I think I’m in love with someone. But I can’t say her name, so I'm going to refer to her as _The_ _Woman_ ”

“Oh?” Her therapist asks, surprised by this new information.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time together over the past few months, like a lot. And I think I love her, but.... there are things in the way.

“What kind of things?”

Frankie is surprised that Grace’s husband isn’t the first thing that pops into her mind. Or the age difference. Or her eighteenth birthday next month. Or the work she’s doing to try to graduate early. (Especially not that. She hasn’t told anyone about that.) All she can think about is that Grace could lose her job over this. She could probably even be charged.

Frankie’s heart aches.

“Okay so I met this woman... a few months ago. And she works at... the college library right next to my school... and she’s wonderful.” Frankie gets lost in thought remembering how excited Grace was the second week when she saw her again at the curling rink. The way Grace had held her hand under the table- their table- afterwards. How Grace continued to let her walls down slightly each time they met.

Jen smiles. “So what’s the issue?”

“She’s 43.” Frankie says bluntly and her therapist’s face falls before she can stop it.

“That is an issue now isn’t it? And she’s interested in you? Is she gay?”

Frankie remembers one of the first times she felt Grace open up to her. They were in Grace’s office one day after school.

 

* * *

 

_“I’m sick of working. Let’s play a game.” Grace said, closing her computer._

_“Um okay who are you and what have you done with Grace? Like what? Eye spy?”_

_“Hmmm.... how about two truths and a lie?”_

_“Alright I’m intrigued. You go first.”_

_“Okay let me think.... I’ve never been outside of the United States, I’ve only been in love once, and my middle name is Leanne.” Grace leaned back in her chair smugly as she watched Frankie try to decide which was a lie._

_“Hmmm well I hate to burst your bubble but I am what some call an amateur sleuth so I already know your middle name is Leanne. And I know you got married at 18 so that would make sense, so I’m going to guess the lie is that you have, in fact, traveled outside of the United States.” Frankie spouted proudly._

_Grace grinned. “Wrong! I have been in love more than once!” She looked at Frankie, eyes daring._

_Frankie’s eyes widened. “Details please!”_

_“I was young, didn’t know what I was doing. They broke my heart. They moved away and that’s how I ended up falling heartbroken into Robert’s arms. And well, that’s how Brianna happened.”_

_“Oh my god, did you ever speak to them again?” Frankie asked, picking up on the gender neutral phrasing._

_“No. I have no idea where they ended up. But it was all for the best I suppose. I have my girls and that’s all that matters. And who knows what the future will bring.”_

 

* * *

 

Frankie looks back at her therapist.

“I have reason to believe she has certain sapphic tendencies.”

“So what’s stopping you from moving forward? You aren’t typically one to shy away from what you want.” Jen readjusts in her chair so she’s sitting on her feet.

“Well you see, she sort of, kind of has like, this husband...”

“Frankie.”

“I know! I know!” Frankie throw her hands up, “It’s awful and I feel awful but I haven’t actually done anything. We’ve just been spending time together. Am I a horrible person?”

“Let’s unpack this a bit. First off you are not a horrible person for falling in love- that could never be the case. However you actions moving forward are what speak to your character. What do you know about their marriage?”

“They’ve never been happy, from what she says. It was a shotgun wedding and then they stayed for the kids, but-“

“Kids?”

“Two.”

“How old are they?” Jen asks.

“There’s a sliiiiight chance they may be older than I am.” Frankie says and she idly twists her ring around her thumb.

“Wow when you said obstacles you weren’t kidding! Anyway carry on.” She motions with her hand.

Frankie wonders how she’d react to the whole teacher thing, but based on their conversation so far it seemed best to leave that out for now.

“He’s away a lot and she’s lonely. And I guess I fear that maybe she likes the attention I give her more than she likes me.”

“That’s very mature of you to be able to recognize that Frankie. And you know I can’t tell you what you should or shouldn’t do but I think you’re wading into very dangerous territory and I think the most important thing is to take care of your heart.”

“Thank you Jen. I guess I have some deep soul searching to do.” Frankie nods as she goes to leave Jen’s office.

 

* * *

 

 

The following Tuesday, a dreary December night, Frankie doesn’t go to the curling rink. She drives around in the dark trying to sift through the sand hill of thoughts jumbling around in her brain. She loves Grace. Grace is married. Grace is 43. Frankie is still seventeen. Grace works at the school where Frankie is stuck until she can graduate at the end of January. She hasn’t told anyone she’s been taking classes online to graduate early, not her parents, and most of all not Grace.

She stops her car outside of the arena and looks in the mirror.

“I love her.” She says into the darkness. “I can’t love her.”

“Oh goddess what am I going to do?” Frankie asks defeatedly before resting her head on the steering wheel. Suddenly a knock on the door startled her. She whipped up to see Grace standing in the parking lot in the dark.

“Jesus lady! You scared the bejeebus out of me!” She said opening the door and stepping out into the chilly night.

“What are you doing out here? I missed you in there.”

Frankie pictured Grace looking up at the seating area waiting for Frankie to show up.

“I thought maybe you didn’t want me here every week.”

“Have I said anything to indicate that?”

“No. No. It’s just, I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what you’re doing.”

They were quiet for a few minutes and Frankie shoves her bare hands in her coat pockets. She watches Grace’s breath fill the space between them as she hugs herself in the cold.

“I don’t know either honestly.” She finally says quietly.

“Well what do you want?” Frankie asks even though she’s scared to hear what the other woman’s answer might be. She leans back against her car door, wishes they were having this conversation indoors.

Grace looks into her eyes, Frankie swears as if begging her to make the first move, but the ball was in Grace’s court wasn’t it? It had to be.

Frankie took her hand out of her pocket. “Well I know what I want.” She offered softly.

Grace reaches out and took her hand in hers. She was shaking but probably mostly from the cold air around them.

Frankie leans towards her slightly, scared that any minute now Grace would come to her senses.

“Grace?” She whispers and Grace takes a small step towards the other woman.

With that Frankie wraps her arms around her slowly. Grace places her cold hand on Frankie cheek and they come together, so quietly they might as well have been in a snow globe, the soft snow falling around them as they stood still.

Frankie could feel her hair blowing against her own face and Grace’s hand still cupped her cheek as she kissed the older woman as if it were everything she had been holding back for months. Grace pushes her lightly against the car and Frankie feels a flash of arousal between her legs, ignoring her own need for air as she kisses without conviction. And just as she begins to feel dizzy from happiness and chills and lack of oxygen Grace bites her lower lip and quickly pulls back, as if startled by her own actions.

“We can’t do this-” Grace whispers into her neck and the arousal is replaced immediately with fear. Fear that Grace doesn’t want this as much as she does, that this just confirmed it, fear that she would walk out of Frankie’s life before she even really broke down her walls. Fear that what they were doing was deeply, morally wrong.

“Not here.”

Frankie sucks in a breath. This wasn’t something she had experience in. She wasn’t used to sneaking around late at night, she wasn’t used to this deep pitted ball of excitement in her stomach. She looked at Grace and her heart ached for what was to come. She wanted this, badly, but Frankie was a pacifist, she wasn’t ever the one actively choosing to hurt people. She tried to pull her thoughts away from Robert and Grace’s children. She tried to tell herself that she wasn’t inherently hurting them, Grace was. It didn’t make her feel much better.

She opens her mouth to say something but Grace pounces again and the feel of her soft lips on her own makes her forget about the cold altogether.

“Where?”

“Roberts away...” Grace trails off and Frankie nods in the dark, unsure if Grace even sees.

“Follow me.” Grace whispers and she turns on her heels to get into her car. Frankie opens the door to her own car and awaits direction.

The ride is long enough and by the time she sees Grace slow and pull in to a driveway she cant wait to see the other woman’s face again.

Grace opened the door to her home and turns on the light, making Frankie realize how much the hidden cloak of the night sky and the quiet highway had mulled her anxiety. Here now though, in the light of Grace’s home she can’t help the guilt and fear from creeping in. Grace too seems nervous, her confidence from the parking lot gone like the version of herself she once thought she was.

“Ca- can I make you a drink?” Her voice betraying the calm exterior she’s trying so hard to maintain.

“Maybe just tea if you’ve got it?” And she watches Grace walk into the kitchen, leaving her alone with her thoughts again.


	4. Wanting

Frankie can’t stop herself from snooping just a little while Grace is in the kitchen. The house is mostly done in wood. Tall ceilings, and minimal decor. It was what one would imagine would feel homey, but it didn’t. It felt stiff and lonely, like a show home. No family pictures, or pillows haphazardly tossed on the couch. It looked as though a maid came in once a week just to dust.

“I guess it kind of needs to be said that I’ve never done anything like this before. Whatever... whatever this is.” Grace says, abruptly walking back into the living room and handing Frankie a hot mug before pulling the curtains that look out onto the street.

Frankie stays silent, giving Grace the floor.

“I suppose you must...think I’m a terrible person.” She sighs, sitting on the far end of the couch with her one foot tucked beneath her, not looking at Frankie.

“I-“ she stops herself, “No. No. I couldn’t.”

“How could you not?”

“I think sometimes we wind up in situations we never expected ourselves to be in. But listen, I’m not one to argue with what the universe tells me and right now she’s telling me you’re in my life for a reason, that all this has happened for a reason. But if you want me to go, Grace, I will. This whole time I’ve made it clear I want... to be around you, but if it doesn’t feel right scouts honour I’ll respect that.” Frankie raises her hand.

“Don’t go.” Grace whispers and Frankie swears she can see the ring around her pool blue eyes clearer than ever before.

“You know,” Grace motions vaguely to Frankie across the couch. “you can come closer to me. I’m not going to bite. Well...”, And then as they both register the connotations they burst into a fit of laughter. Frankie scoots over, laughing, and as Grace’s arm wraps around her she suddenly feels her anxieties wash away. Grace turns to look down as Frankie looks up and without hesitation Frankie presses her lips against the other woman’s. When the kiss isn’t immediately reciprocated Frankie quickly pulls back.

“No.. no. No. I’m- I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Frankie, maybe you shouldn’t be here. Not because I don’t want you here, my god, not that. I know you just said you want this, but, I just... how can I drag you into my mess of a life?”

“Is this about Robert?”

“No. No, that’s the least of my concerns right now. I’m just worried about you. You’re so young, and I’m... not.”

Frankie springs up off the couch and dramatically throws her arms up in the air, startling Grace. “Grace! Lordy Lordy Lordy, how many times do I have to tell you that age is nothing but a societally created tracking device for the government to gauge when we’ll die? It doesn’t say a darn thing about who you are, okay? The moment I met you I was drawn to you, and look at that! My gut turned out to be right. You are one of the most fascinating people I’ve ever met, even if you do drink too much and have terrible taste in men.”

Frankie takes Grace’s hands and pulls her up off the couch, spinning her around despite Grace’s clear hesitancy.

“You, young one, are wise beyond your years.” Grace stops and looks into Frankie’s eyes before taking both sides of Frankie’s face in her hands and leaning in slowly. Her lips touch Frankie’s so gently it almost tickles, and then she pushes into her hard, knocking her breath away.

“Thank you.” She whispers against the younger woman’s mouth. The playful mood from a moment ago long gone, Frankie wraps her arms around Grace’s waist and pulls them down back side by side on the couch, similar to how they were before. Still clutching onto her face, Grace licks her bottom lip hungrily and as soon as Frankie opens her mouth Grace’s tongue is everywhere at once. Frankie swings her right leg over and positions herself on Grace’s lap. The moan that escapes Grace as she leans in and kisses Frankie’s sternum through her kaftan, is deep and guttural.

“Grace... Grace-“ Frankie starts before she feels the warmth of the other woman’s mouth through the thin fabric.

“Mmm,” Grace pulls back but presses her cheek against Frankie’s breast, “Yes?”

“Uhhh it’s not important, just... keep on keeping on sister.” And then the mouth is back and her tongue is swirling lazy circles around her nipple. Frankie throws her head back, cups her hands around the back of Grace’s neck. Frankie opens her eyes, stares up at the wood panels on the ceiling. ‘Thank you goddess’ she thinks before diving back down and capturing Grace’s lips again.

 

* * *

 

It’s 2am when Frankie slowly turns to face the woman beside her, watches her gentle breathing in the dim light from the window. Frankie softly places her hand on the sharp hip in front of her, and she’s suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that Grace has never known intimacy like this. Grace, who hid this sapphic side of herself for twenty years. Who has stayed in a show marriage for more than half of her life.

Frankie takes her right thumb and softly strokes Grace’s cheek.

“I love you.” She whispers in the dark before sliding out of the bed and tiptoeing out to the living room to try to find her kaftan and leggings. With her hand on the doorknob she wonders suddenly if she should leave a note. _Hope_ _you_ _won’t_ _wake up and regret_ _this. See you at school tomorrow?_ didn’t really sum up her feelings. No, Grace and her will have to talk about this, but first Frankie needs to consult with the goddess. And get home in case this happens to be the one time her parents notice she’s not home.


	5. Oh Darling

Frankie is exhausted when she walks into school the next morning. She’d hardly gotten any sleep the night before, tossing and turning, imagining Grace waking up in that empty bed. Worrying about what was going to happen if they ran into each other in the hallway. Worrying about having an actual _serious_ _secret_ for the first time in her life.   
  
Frankie goes straight to her first class, avoiding the hallway with Grace’s office altogether. Then her second, and third, until eventually its lunch time and Frankie draws up the courage to take a slow jaunt past the door.   
  
She glances in and catches Grace’s eye.   
  
“Psst.” Grace beckons and Frankie takes a quick look around before casually stepping in the door.   
  
“Oh hey long time no see.” Frankie jokes lightheartedly as Grace comes around the desk and closes the door behind Frankie.   
  
“Oh. Uh-“   
  
“You left.”   
  
“I, uh, yeah. I had to. I hate to draw massive amounts of attention to it but I do still live with my parents...” Frankie trails off as Grace steps closer.   
  
“And I live with my husband.”   
  
“Well I sure didn’t see him around last night.”   
  
Grace scoffs and steps closer. “No. I think I slept better in that house last night than I ever have with him.”   
  
Frankie just stares into her eyes, unsure of what to say next, her usual charisma and confidence lost somewhere back in Grace’s bed.   
  
“Do you regret it?” Grace asks and if she’s trying to sound indifferent it’s not working.   
  
“No. Do you?”   
  
“No.” Grace pushes her slightly into the door and adrenaline pulses through Frankie’s body. Surely we aren’t going to do this here? She thinks, someone could try to open the door at any moment. But her thoughts are interrupted by Grace pressing a fevered kiss against her lips but right as Frankie responds she pulls away and walks back around her desk.   
  
“He’s gone again tonight, if you wanted to...pop by. Just for a tea, you obviously can’t stay, I understand.”   
  
The cool air is back in Grace’s demeanour and Frankie wonders if she’ll ever break down her walls.   
  
“How’s 7?” Frankie asks and Grace smiles despite herself.   
  
“The door will be unlocked.” And with that, Frankie nods, looks at her one more time and leaves her office.   
  


* * *

  
  
“I wish we could take a trip together.” Frankie confesses wistfully, later that week, Grace tucked into her arm under the covers.   
  
“I wish you could meet my sister. She’d love you.” Grace replies, her voice heavy from the weed Frankie conned her into trying.   
  
_Come on. It’s not like smoking a little MJ is the craziest thing you’ll have done tonight,_ Frankie had said _.  
_  
“I wish you didn’t live in this big sad house.”  
  
“I wish I felt guilty about this.” Grace whispers and the words wrap around Frankie’s heart and squeeze. _She_ _wants_ _this,_ Frankie thinks. _she_ _wants_ _me_.   
  
“I wish I didn’t have to leave tonight.” Frankie says, shifting her body to face the naked woman beside her.   
  
“You know, it’s going to get increasingly harder to  see you at school and not worry about someone thinking something is off.” Grace whispers as she turns her body too.   
  
“Well it’s nearly Christmas break and then it won’t be long after that.” She wants so badly to tell Grace she’s done at the end of January. That she’ll graduate and turn 18 and Grace can leave Robert and then they can finally stop hiding.   
  
Grace looks at her, her eyes serious. “I’ve never felt this way before.”  
  
“Oh sweetheart. You deserve to feel like this, even if you think you don’t. Even if it’s not with me. You deserve to feel loved.”   
  
They hadn’t said it yet, _the_ _L_ _word_ , but Frankie feels it in every corner of her being. She loves Grace, and she meant it, even if Grace decided she needed to find someone closer in life experience to her, even if it would kill Frankie, she wanted her to be happy.   
  
Frankie kisses her one more time before using every ounce of self discipline to crawl out of bed and get dressed.   
  
“One day you won’t have to go.” Grace says, still cozy under the blankets. Her eyes threatening to fall asleep any second.   
  
“One day.” Frankie repeats sadly, before showing herself out.


	6. No

It’s the first week of January when Frankie bounces into Grace’s office. They’d been playing it cool in public, Frankie visiting her less at school. Making up for it by meeting at the bar, or at Graces house when Robert was away, which Frankie learned Grace had not exaggerated when she said it was a lot. She’d just gotten the official word that she would be finished all her courses in the next week and all that was left were the early diplomas and she would be officially graduated.   
  
“Grace. I have neeeewwwss! It’s official, I’m graduating early! I’m done at the end of the month.” Frankie grins down at the woman behind her desk.   
  
Grace’s hands still on her laptop but she doesn’t look up. Frankie waits, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.   
  
“What?”   
  
“I’m done early! I finished all my classes through correspondence and after my diplomas next week I’m blowing this popsicle stand. And I won’t be a student...”   
  
“You- you didn’t tell me this.”   
  
“I know, duh, that wouldn’t have been a very good surprise then would it?”   
  
“You... you won’t be at the school after next week?”   
  
“Uh no? So we-” Frankie looks around, “might have to start hanging out somewhere else.” She bounces her eyebrows playfully.   
  
“I can’t talk about this now, okay? I have work to do.” Grace whispers coldly and looks back down at her laptop. Frankie feels it hit her like a slap in the face. She expected Grace to be excited about this, now they can finally spend time together without having to hide away. Even if they just present themselves like the most platonic of friends, no one would question it. People became friends with their old teachers after graduating all the time. This reaction was not at all what she expected.   


* * *

  
  
That evening, cloaked in the safety of her therapists office she feels her heart break.   
  
“I don’t understand that reaction from her at all, she has known this whole time you were still in school correct?” Jen asks.   
  
“Yes?”   
  
“So what possible reason would she have to be anything but proud of you for working so hard? It’s not like it will change the dynamic of your- what are we calling it? Relationship, affair?”   
  
“Uhhh I suppose in all fairness, we should use affair. And also... Jen... there’s one tiny little detail I seem to have maybe left out over the past few months.”   
  
Jen squints at her playfully.   
  
“The woman. The reason I’ve kept her name a secret from you, is because, well, she’s actually a teacher at my high school.” Frankie closes her eyes. “And I won’t tell anyone her name because I don’t want her to get in trouble.”   
  
When she opens them again, Jen is staring at her silently.   
  
“Listen I know! I know! I shouldn’t have lied but would you have let me come in here and tell you everything we were doing if you knew it was illegal?”   
  
“Frankie. This is a very serious situation. I was able to see past the marriage and the age difference, but this? This is wrong of her to do. It’s not wrong of you, you’re not a bad person, but she has overstepped a boundary that as an adult in a position of power she knows she needs to respect.”   
  
Tears spring to Frankie’s eyes. “But it doesn’t feel wrong. When I’m with her, everything feels so right. She says she wants to actually be with me, talks about me meeting her family, about taking trips together, that’s why I’ve done all this.. this graduating early stuff. So I can have that. And then as soon as I told her she shut down, asked me to leave her office.”   
  
“You told her at school? So you two talk a lot at school? How has no one noticed this?”   
  
“She’s ‘straight’ and married remember? Everyone just thinks I’m weird for hanging around teachers all the time.” Frankie shrugs.   
  
“Frankie. I need you to be very serious for a moment okay. I have heard this story before, and I’m not saying that’s the case here, but very seldom do people actually leave their spouses for someone they’re having an affair with. Very seldom. Okay? I think you need to focus right now on your exams and actually graduating and then you need to consider sitting down with her and having an open discussion about what this relationship means for both of you.”   
  
“What if she doesn’t want this after I leave the school? What if this was just a way to entertain herself?” Frankie asks frantically, her hand flying to her sternum.   
  
“Well, you have to find that out, sooner rather than later.”   


* * *

  
  
The next morning Frankie goes through the drive through on her way to school, gets herself a camomile tea and Grace a large dark roast coffee with half a cream; the grossest drink Frankie can imagine, but Grace’s favourite.   
  
She pulls into the school parking lot and rips the cap off a pen with her teeth.   
  
_I know it’s Friday and Robert is home but Tuesday is too far away. Tonight? Usual spot? Please._  
  
She recaps the pen, grabs her backpack and heads into the school. She takes three deep breaths before walking into Grace’s office, the door open and the woman nowhere to be found. She sets the coffee down beside her laptop and prays to the sky no one reads it before Grace gets there.   


* * *

  
  
It’s eight pm and Frankie is sitting in their booth at the bar. She is facing the back wall, opting for the side that couldn’t allow her to stare at the door hoping that it would open and reveal Grace. She feels her shoulders tense every time she hears a noise behind her.   
  
She sips her orange crush through a straw and absentmindedly doodles on a napkin. She draws a plane flying over the mountains, she thinks of the life her and Grace have talked about, of traveling, and Grace dragging her to wine tastings while she hauls her to music festivals. It all seemed so plausible a few months ago and Frankie kicks herself for her naivety. Just as she goes to draw the plane crashing into the mountain, she’s startled by a hand on her shoulder. She looks up to see Grace, wearing her beige comfort sweater, looking like she just got out of the shower, hair slightly frizzy and little to no makeup.   
  
“Hey.” Frankie offers meekly.   
  
“Hey.” Grace repeats and bumps Frankie’s shoulder with her hip, a weak attempt at playfulness, before sitting down across the table.   
  
“Thank you for coming I guess. Where does Robert think you are?”   
  
“He didn’t ask. He doesn’t ask.”   
  
“I hate him.”   
  
“I know you do.”   
  
“Why don’t you?”   
  
“Frankie...”   
  
“What? What Grace? What are we even doing here? What have we been doing for the past six months? All that stuff about being together one day, what was that? Just a fantasy?”   
  
Grace is visibly taken aback by the outburst. For a second Frankie thinks she might cry, but she folds her arms across her chest defiantly and looks at the wall.   
  
“I don’t know what to tell you.”   
  
“Do you want to be with me?” Frankie pleads, not even worrying about how pathetic it sounds.   
  
“I love spending time together. I don’t know why you still question that when I’ve made it clear time and time again.”   
  
“But you’re still with him...”   
  
“Well? What do you expect me to do? Leave him?” Grace hisses, her voice low.   
  
“Why not?” Frankie answers defeatedly, knowing full well why not.   
  
“Why not? Why not she says! I don’t know Frankie maybe because it’s been 25 years and two kids and four houses and three different states. A whole life Frankie! Why not? Why not...” Grace trails off, shaking her head, she’s not looking at Frankie anymore. She places her hand back on Frankie’s thigh under the table, an attempt to soothe the rejection. Frankie goes to move her leg but places her hand overtop instead.   
  
“So. What does that mean? It’ll never be any more than this?”   
  
Grace thinks for a minute before taking her hand back. “No.” She says and it comes out hollow. “No, I don’t think so.”   
  
Frankie stares at her for a moment, before slapping a five dollar bill down onto the table so hard Grace’s eyes shoots up from her lap. She catches Frankie’s briefly before the younger woman storms out towards the parking lot. Grace jumps up and follows her, politely thanking the waitress so as to mask the scene.   
  
“Frankie wait!”   
  
Frankie whips around. “What? You’ve said what you have to say. I understand, I do. I really do. I’ve said that since the start! I just want you to be happy. But I can’t be half in Grace. I need to either be in, or be out.”   
  
Grace won’t look at her, leans back against her the side of her car. Frankie watches her face in the dark. Watches her chest take deep breaths in and out.   
  
“So I guess, I guess it’s your call. You have a choice to make.” The edge of anger gone from her voice.   
  
“I can’t- I can’t.” Grace’s voice cracks and the concrete reality of the situation seeps into Frankie’s bones.  She’ll never fully have her. And just how much of herself is she willing cut into pieces to fit into the empty spots in Grace’s life? For how long?   
  
“But why cant we keep doing this? We can just keep doing this right? Meeting. Here.” She motions to the parking lot around them, more desperate than Frankie has ever seen her.   
  
“I just... don’t want it to stop.” Grace looks up at her with pleading eyes.   
  
They look at each other and Frankie wants so badly to say yes. Feels willing to do nearly anything to keep this woman in her life.   
  
“It’s late Grace.” She whispers. “We should both go home.”   
  
“I’ll see you next Tuesday though? I can give you my number, you’re not a student after tomorrow.” Grace is trembling. Frankie wants to reach out and hold her, but she stays where she is. She looks away from Grace’s eyes and glances at her parked car across the lot.   
  
“Yeah... Tuesday... let’s talk about it Tuesday...”   
  
Frankie starts to walk towards her car, leaving Grace alone in the dark.   
  
“Frankie?” Grace calls after her and she turns around slowly. “I love you.”   
  
“I love you too.” Frankie answers, and she's sad this is the first time she's heard Grace say it. When her hand touches the handle she faintly hears Grace ask again, “Tuesday?”, but she opens it and gets inside. She drives two blocks over before a sob escapes and she has to pull over. She wonders if Grace is doing the exact same thing.


	7. Goodbye

When Frankie wakes up the following Tuesday morning her whole body hurts. It’s the day she’s been dreading all week, the day where she has to make a decision once and for all. She stares at herself in the bathroom mirror, and she looks tired despite her eighteen birthday just coming up at the end of the week.  
  
She walks into the flower shop timidly and looks around.  
  
“Anything I can help you with?”  
  
“I want to send flowers to someone, can they still be delivered today?”  
  
“Yeah that’s not an issue, what are you thinking?”  
  
“Something to say goodbye.” She says and she tries to pass it off nonchalantly.  
  
“Umm the lilies are really nice right now.” The woman responds uncomfortably.  
  
“Roses. I’ll get $200 worth of long stem red roses.”  
  
The woman hesitates before walking into the coldroom. “We have deliveries going out in a half hour, I can wrap these up and he’ll get these before three. Must be one hell of a goodbye.”  
  
Frankie tenses at the pronoun but gives the woman a polite smile and walks over to the cards. She knows what she’s planning on writing, and once it’s done and sealed she writes Grace Hanson in small uppercase letters, nothing at all like the messy penmanship anyone would associate with her. She pays and thanks the woman before stepping out into the cool air of the street. Frankie thinks about waiting by the school to see them be delivered but she dismisses the idea as soon as it comes and instead gets in her car to go home and let herself wallow for a bit, maybe smoke a joint to take the edge off of what’s to come.  
  
When the time to go to curling comes Frankie knows Grace must’ve received the flowers and even still she has to fight the urge to get in her car and go and see the older woman. She wonders if Grace keeps looking up, waiting to see her in the overhead seats. Wonders if at some point all the pieces will click together. Wonders how many times she’ll reread the card.  
  
_G_ -  
_You are the most spectacular woman I have ever met. I will never forget the time I’ve had to get to know you. I hope you won’t look back at this with regret._  
_I wish you a lifetime of happiness, no matter what that may mean- you truly deserve it._  
  
_All my love, F_  


* * *

  
  
That night, Frankie lays in her bed, the reality of the decision she’s made resting heavy on her chest. She has to leave this town now, can’t risk running into her, can’t imagine herself having the strength to explain face to face why she’s done what she’s done.  
  
Over the course of the next few days Frankie avoids any of the places Grace might be, she resists the urge to ask people from school how Grace appears to be doing. Resists the temptation to drive directly to her house and ask her herself.  
  
‘You’ve said goodbye’, she thinks. ‘It just has to be this way.’  
  
The morning of Frankie’s eighteenth birthday she tells her parents she’s moving four hours away.  
  
“There’s a huge artisanal farmers market year round and I hear the music scene is to die for. I’ll visit, of course, but I’ve already found a small apartment downtown, it’s right above an art supply store! Can you imagine? I just think I need to get away for a while before I decide if I want to follow through with my plans of becoming a bikram yoga instructor, or to see if maybe I could even make it as an artist.” She tells them over breakfast and if they’re fazed they don’t show it.  
  
“We’re so proud of you for working so hard and graduating early, it shows a determination we haven’t really seen in you before.” Her dad says between gulps of coffee.  
  
Frankie feels her stomach flip, knowing they’ll never know the real reason why she worked so hard, feeling dumb for even knowing herself.  
  
“Yeah. Thanks.”  
  
The sadness hasn’t subsided when she goes upstairs later to get ready for lunch with her friends. She’s brushing her long tangled mane when her phone vibrates against her leg.  
  
_1 Facebook notification from Grace Hanson_  
  
She inhales deeply and feels her stomach tense. She clicks on it.  
  
_Happy_ _birthday_ _Frankie_ , is all it says.  
  
It’s so generic it could’ve been from anyone, a distant cousin, an old coworker, but Frankie knows from Grace, it’s an outstretched hand.  
  
She breathes hard, pressing the off button on her phone and placing it facedown. She looks at herself in the mirror again and feels her heart fill with doubt.  
  
_No_ \- she thinks, _I can’t go back now_.  
  
She reopens the app and types quickly, not even rereading the message before hitting send.  
  
_Thank you. Really. Take care of yourself._  
  
She finishes getting ready and right before she leaves the house she looks at it again.  
  
_Read 11:48._  
  
She deletes the conversation. 


	8. Three Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is an epilogue, of sorts.

It took a lot of years and hours of therapy for Frankie to feel okay with going back to her hometown to visit her parents. Her dad has been sick and she knew it was time to pop back down for a week to see him and give her mother a hand with the house.  
  
Driving into town on her way to the pharmacy to pick up a few items for her mom, she passes her old middle school and she feels her thumb twitch with the slight temptation to take the longer route and take a look at her old high school but she passes the intersection and lets out the breath she was holding.   
  
When she left, she swore she’d never come back, things having never been great with her parents and with all of her friends having moved across the state. This town felt like a memory better left unvisited. The air thick with an impermeable dust. And of course, that small tick in the back of her mind that sometimes still whispered Grace’s name when she was trying to sleep.   
  
She had done a lot of work to move past the tumultuous affair. Her current therapist, Megan, had helped her through years of grief, guilt, and that lasting sense of false hope that took far too long to rid herself of. Most weeks she doesn’t find her mind slipping back to Grace at all, and if it does she is capable of pushing it away before allowing herself the torture of checking the older woman’s Facebook.   
  
But, Grace wasn’t entirely a part of her past, she still relished the opportunity to tell the story to nearly anyone who would listen, still referring to her as ‘The Woman’; continuing to grant her the gift of her anonymity. Still finds on the nights where she surrenders herself to drown, the woman’s eyes slice her apart as fresh as that last night at the curling rink.   
  
Ultimately, Frankie would be lying to say she didn’t still want Grace to contact her again, but for the most part it was more of a hushed longing than an actual desire. Like a soft ringing in her ear that she’d gotten used to over time.   
  
Frankie pulls up to the drug store and drapes her favourite orange hemp bag across her torso. She touches the large amethyst attached to the rope around her neck and sends a silent prayer to the goddess not to run into her estranged grandmother.   
  
She grabs a basket and begins her trek down the uncomfortably familiar aisles, humming softly to the Busted Root song playing over the speakers.   
  
When she has everything off her list she turns the last corner to the checkout till and that’s when she sees her: _Grace_. Her hair was darker but it was undoubtedly her.   
  
Frankie’s heart leaps so fast she throws her arm up to make sure it doesn’t jump right out of her body, accidentally causing more of a scene than anticipated, knocking a full display of bottles onto the floor.   
  
“Oh jimminy!” She huffs before being down to pick them up.   
  
“Frankie?”  
  
_Fuck_  
  
She stands up slowly, forcing herself to make eye contact.   
  
“ _Grace_.” It comes out like a gust of air, like a word she’d been forbidden to say aloud.   
  
Frankie feels Grace wrap her thin arms around her and muffle something that Frankie thinks could either be _Ive_ _missed_ _you_ _so_ _much,_ or _You’ve_ _missed_ _so_ _much_. Either option sending a spear straight through Frankie’s heart. When she pulls back Grace looks straight into her eyes and places her right hand on the younger woman’s cheek.   
  
“How long are you here?” She begs, desperately, and it takes Frankie right back to their last few meetings. Her, desperate for all of Grace, and Grace, desperate to remain upright despite the ground shaking around them.   
  
“How are you?” She responds, seemingly oblivious to the other woman’s question.   
  
“I’m- I’m okay.” She says, as if convincing herself and Frankie at the same time.   
  
“How are you? My god, it’s been... _years_.”  
  
“I’m good.” She says before realizing how definitive and cold it came out. Grace takes a half step back.   
  
“Oh. Well, good. I’m so glad. You look... wonderful.”  
  
Frankie can’t find any words to respond. Grace looks, older. More fragile, thinner than before if that was even possible. Her eyes shine sadly and despite herself, Frankie remembers why she hasn’t let herself paint Grace; she could never do it justice.   
  
“I have to pay.” She says apologetically, as if being granted only a certain number of words she was allowed to say. As if attempting to preserve them.   
  
“Oh. Okay, well, it was really nice to see you.” The sadness so tangible she thinks everyone in the entire store can feel it. Grace goes to walk to the exit, and Frankie thinks she might turn back and wink like so many times before. When she doesn’t, Frankie takes three deep breaths and sets her basket on the counter. “I’ll have to come back for these, I’m so sorry.” Before whipping around and darting towards the door so fast she nearly tripps over a display of umbrellas.   
  
“Sorry!” She calls behind her and as soon as she gets out onto the sidewalk she sees Grace start her car across the street.   
  
“Wait-“ she calls out. “WAIT!”   
  
Grace startles and they lock eyes, once the road is clear Frankie runs across and stops right beside Grace’s car door. Grace rolls down the window as Frankie bends over and pants hard.   
  
“Holy Hannah! I need to lay off the weed, I have the lungs of a geriatric patient.”  
  
Grace laughs, earnestly. “You haven’t changed.”  
  
“Listen- okay? It’s been three years. I don’t know what’s going on right now, and hell, sometimes I question what was going on back then but all I know is, I’m here, you’re here, you don’t have a wedding ring on. I _have_ changed. And I hope you have too, but overall it seems too coincidental for this run-in to mean nothing, and besides,” She pauses, “it is Tuesday night.” She watches a grin spread across Grace’s face and she feels her own do the same.   
  
“Why so it is! Would you care to join me for a drink? I know the perfect little spot. It’s no burrito restaurant but I think you’ll like it.” Grace can’t stop smiling.   
  
Frankie laughs, loud and low, before slamming her hand against Grace’s window frame and belting out, “ _Race_ _you_ _there_!” 

She runs across the street to her own car. Once inside she watches Grace roll her window up, wipe a single tear from her eye, wink, and pull out towards the curling rink.    


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's it folks. Again, absolutely no way of denying it, this was my vanity project. Hope I didn't slip up and include the actual name of The Woman this is based on lol. Thanks for reading!


End file.
